From beekeeping to bluebooks: Youth Leaders at European Youth Week

Last updated on Tuesday, 09/07/2024

On 12 April 2024, the European Youth Week kick-off event took place in the European Parliament in Brussels. The energy at the day-long event was electric. Young people from all corners of Europe, change makers, advocates and even a few journalists like myself gathered together in the Parliament to celebrate the power of youth and all we can achieve when given the opportunity.

Throughout the day, different workshops meant that we got to hear from a range of experts on different projects taking place in Europe and share our opinions and ideas with decision-makers. I even had the opportunity to meet with Nynke Blömer and Nadine Schulle, two young biodiversity activists who founded the project ‘Pollinator Ambassadors’. Attending DG Environment and Deliberative Democracy’s workshop on Fostering youth engagement and participatory governance in pollinator conservation, we were reminded of the vast range of pollinators that exist and the vital role they play in preserving ecosystems.

From moths and butterflies to hoverflies and beetles, not to mention the role of birds and bats, we often jump straight to bees when we think of pollinators. Did you know that 4 out of 5 crops and wildflowers are dependent on insects for pollination, and without them, Europe’s food security and biodiversity are threatened? Nadine and Nyke both come from beekeeping families and much of their work focuses on how beekeepers can work with nature in a way that favours all pollinators.

Environmental pollution, loss of habitats, pesticide usage and climate change are all impacting out pollinators, but Nadine and Nynke show how young people can take meaningful action to help our pollinators. Running workshops for both beekeepers, organisations and those simply interested in conservation, they are able to raise awareness of the scale of the crisis we are facing.

Watch their interview below: 

In September 2019, Nadine and Nynke spoke to the Directorate-General for the Environment on the topic of biodiversity project grants, showing how young people can make their voices heard at the highest levels of decision-making. Nadine founded the BikeforBees initiative where in 2021 she cycled through Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia inviting the young people, beekeepers and other locals she just met on the way to join the conversation about pollinators and our role in protecting them. Find out more on their website.

I later had the opportunity to speak with Christina Yiannapi, Secretary General of the Cyprus Youth Council who talked to me about her experience participating in the European Commission Blue Book Traineeship Programme. Twice every year the European Commission offers a 5-month paid traineeship, open to all EU citizens who have completed their bachelor’s degree, provided they meet certain requirements.

For Christina, this was an incredible experience and one she recommends all young people should apply for. “It gave me an opportunity to dive into the work of the European institutions, and specifically one of the European agencies of the European Commission.”

There is often a lot of ambiguity surrounding how the EU institutions work and Christina feels that, “if you are young and you hear all this fuss about the European institutions and how things work, how the EU works….I would say apply for a Blue Book Traineeship and get the chance to actually live the experience hands-on, how things work and how the institutions work and get the experience of what it is to be working in such a formal structure.”

The Blue Book Traineeship programme also provides an opportunity for the European Commission to increase its pool of diversity and talent. “[Young People] bring a perspective that people working within the structure don’t really get because they’ve been working in these positions for five or ten years. It brings a fresh perspective of how things are working outside the institutions and also how young people see the future of the institutions.”

Talking to young people throughout the day, it was refreshing to see such diversity among those who were attending. One young person observed that even our clothing reflected our differences, commenting, “I think it’s really special that we are all walking around here with really different clothing styles. I think that’s really funny. We have people dressed up really fancy, dressed up like it’s summer, dressed up like it's winter, you really see the different cultures”.

There was also diversity in why people chose to attend the event. For some, a deep interest in politics and the EU institutions motivated them to make the journey to Brussels, especially in the run-up to the European Elections. For others, it was their involvement in youth work and Erasmus + projects. What everyone shared in common was the deep interest in meeting other young people across Europe. As one participant commented, “I’m most looking forward to meeting all the people, talking to them, sharing stories and seeing what they’re up to.”

The EU elections provided a popular talking point throughout the day. The challenge of ensuring youth engagement among their peers was something a large number of the attendees felt passionate about. However, many young people pointed towards the need for increased education about the EU institutions. Even for those of us who are interested in learning more about the EU and increasing our engagement with European projects, the EU can often feel distant and the way its institutions work, confusing.

But, as was voiced many times during the day, the EU is not simply a distant regulating bureaucracy, it is all of us. We are all EU citizens and when I picture the EU, the image in my mind will no longer be people dressed in suits sitting around an office table, it will be of young Europeans, working together on the issues we care about, celebrating our differences and learning what unites us, shaping the future of Europe, one step at a time. 

_______________

Young Journalists in Europe - Meet the author

Alannah Wrynn
My name is Alannah Wrynn and I am an Irish nineteen-year-old studying History and Politics at Trinity College Dublin. I come from a farming background in rural West Cork and have been campaigning as a climate activist since the age of sixteen when I joined the Future Generations Climate Justice Project and began campaigning for sustainable food production methods. I took part in YMCA Ireland’s Youth Journalist project combining my passion for environmental protection with a flourishing interest in journalism. Since then I have continued to use videos, interviews and photography as a way to share information and inspire action.

This article reflects the views of the authors only. The European Commission and Eurodesk cannot be held responsible for it.